West Leigh School traffic plans

Proposals have been published which would be funded by KeyMed and are designed to make access to West Leigh School safer as well as reducing traffic stress in the area. They include preventing access into London Road by the lights next to the school which would allow the removal of a phase of the traffic light sequence and improve traffic flow along the A13. This works to the advantage of residents as the easier the traffic flow along this main road the less the incentive for rat running. Some residents are expressing concern so we await the outcome of the consultation with interest.

Leigh Marsh Car Parking

The new extended car parking facility on Leigh marsh is now open but I am not convinced that the charging rate of £1 is right. All that it is doing is providing cheap commuter parking and undercutting the railway car park. Whilst the charges levied by the railway are, in my opinion, ridiculously high and hardly encourage usage, it was not the purpose of the extended council car park to provide cheap parking for commuters but to ensure adequate and safe parking for leisure users. I will be pressing for the rates to increase at the begining of the day but then to reduce. This should deter communter use (or at least get a reasonable return if this persists)and provide car parking for residents wanting to visit the area for walking or other leisure purposes.

Hospice on Belton Hills

I have already raised my concerns on this blog with regard to the plans announced by Fair Havens to relocate their hospice from Chalkwell Avenue to the green belt on Belton Hills. As the plan becomes more widely known I have received contact from increasing numbers of residents who are opposed to it. Fair Havens does great work for the local community but to encroach on this important open space just doesn't make sense. I will continue to encourage them to find an alternative site which we can all support.

Lego building reaches completion

Great to see that the new university accomodation building with public multi storey car park beneath is almost finished. The car park will be a great improvement on the old Farringdon site with safe and well lit provision and pay on exit. In the meantime the Uni has excellant purpose built flats for its students. Love or hate the design (and everybody seems to fall into one category or the other) it certainly can't be missed.

Victoria Gateway - the last tree goes

I see that the conspiracy theorists are working overtime to suggest that the decision to remove a further tree from Victoria Circus was always the council's plan. What rubbish! If we could have saved the tree why would we have done otherwise? When the scheme was published it was intended to remove all trees but on the information originally received from the utility companies it seemed possible to save one, so the scheme was adjusted accordingly. Months later British Telecom then announced that if the road was built where now intended a fibre optic cable serving a substantial % of Southend would have to be moved at a cost of about £1M. Additionally the delay in carrying out the work would have resulted in the project over running and the Government clawing back a further £1-2M. The only solution was to remove the tree and avoid the cable. No choice - to save the tree would cost Southend council tax payers over £2M. Sorry that the protesters are cross that they were not given advance notice - if so they would no doubt have tried to repeat their actions at Cuckoo Corner resulting in massive costs and delay, which would once again fall to the Southend council tax payer. The scheme includes full landscaping and tree planting and the sooner it is completed the better.

Members allowances

So the extended and expensive investigation into member expenses is now drawing to an end with a report from the Independent Remuneration Panel going to Full Council on Thursday. A particular target for some opposition members has been the claims for reimbursement of in-borough travel expenses. Claims for the 51 councillors amounted to about £7000 last year and the investigation and review has cost far more in officer time! It is now recommended that every member should receive £100 per year to reimburse in-borough travel expenses whether or not they incur them which it is argued will save officer time processing the claims - although these claims will still need to be submitted for out of borough expenses! I feel able to comment on this as I have never claimed travel expenses whether in or out of borough and do not intend to start now. I am not sure how a scheme involving a flat rate payment is just or equitable. If in-borough expenses are going to be paid then surely payments should reflect the expenses actually incurred rather than a system which could cost £5,100 (i.e 51 councillors @ £100)and where every councillor is likely to be either over reimbursed or under reimbursed. In addition by paying this flat rate it will be taxable so further reducing the effect but benefiting the taxman. I would have thought that we should either decide not to pay these expenses, or if we are, then we should acknowledge that different councillors undertake vastly different workloads and reimburse what they have actually incurred. I have said that I would support the recommendations of the Independent Panel which I will do, but I do struggle to follow the logic of their recommendations.

Budget cuts

Cuts to funds previously allocated to the Council by the Government continue to hit us. The previous subsidy to deliver free swimming for the under 16s and over 60s has gone with free swimming for these groups disappearing from 1st August. A further sum of about £2.6M covering a range of revenue and capital projects has also been called back. Whilst the Government has protected the Council's basic formula grant, which is used to pay for the majority of our services, it is withdrawing other funds which were allocated to specific areas. These in year cuts are really difficult to deal with as they need urgent steps to stop spending money we know longer have. Whilst the cuts which we face for the next financial year will be far worse at least we will have greater control over which services should be prioritised and we will also have the opportunity to consult with residents and plan in advance.